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Dominion Range Snow Pit and Ice Core, 1984 and 1985, Version 1

Information from snow pits and an ice core were collected at Dominion Range (location - 166 10' East, 85 15' South, elevation - 2,700m) in 1984-1985. The 6 meter snow pit was dug and sampled in 1984-1985 with a 3 cm sampling interval. Four 1 meter snow pits were dug and sampled in 1984-1985 with a 3 cm sampling interval. One core was drilled during the austral summer 1984-1985 with a depth of 160 meters.

DATA SETS AVAILABLE: 6 M snow pit: Chemistry, beta profile, density 1 meter snow pits: Chemistry, density Core: Chemistry (Na, NH4, K, Mg, Ca, Cl, NO3, SO4, MSA), particles, lead-210 profile. The pits were dug and sampled at a 3 cm interval by the Glacier Research Group (GRG), using established protocols to prevent contamination. The samples for major ion chemistry remained frozen until melted for analysis in the GRG lab, located at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). The core was drilled for GRG by the Polar Ice Coring Office (PICO). All core processing was done by GRG using established protocols to prevent contamination. A portion of the core, 12-18 meters did not survive transport from Antarctica to the United States. Ten discontinuous portions of the core (centered around ECM peaks) were sampled at approximately 3 cm intervals and analyzed in 1985-6 (18-20 m; 27-31 m; 33-41 m; 45-54 m; 61-63 m; 67-71 m; 74-6m; 80-81 m; 85-90 m; 93-96m m). Chemistry from these sections consists of Cl, NO3, SO4, and Na. The remaining sections of core were sampled continuously in 20 cm sections in 1991. Chemistry for these samples consists of Cl, NO3, SO4, MSA, Na, NH4, K, Mg, Ca and insoluable particles. All data except the stable oxygen isotope data, which is from Piet Grootes at the University of Washington, was generated by GRG.

Analytical methods: Initial major ion analyses (for the snow pits and the initial core processing) consisted of determination of major anion concentrations (Cl, NO3, SO4) by ion chromatography and sodium (Na) by flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry. A portion of the refrozen sample remaining from the 6 meter pit was analyzed by ion chromatography in 1989-90 for the suite of major cations. Core samples processed in 1991 were analyzed for major anion, major cation and methanesulfonic acid (MSA) by ion chromatograpy and for insoluble microparticle concentrations. The latter were determined on a Elzone 280 PC housed in a clean room at UNH (64 logarithmically spaced channels from 0.65 micrometers to 13 micrometers). Beta samples were melted, acidified, and filtered through cation exchange filters. The filters were counted with a gas-flow proportional counter at UNH. Lead-210 was determined by alpha spectrometric counting of Po-210 which had been plated onto silver planchets. MSA was determined on the initial suite (1984) of samples by Pai Yei Whung at the University of Miami as part of her Ph.D. disseration. Na values determined by both atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) and ion chromatography (IC) for the 6 meter pit are presented. Differences between the two values reflect analytical uncertainty and perhaps also to the presence of insoluble Na in the samples that would be detected by AAS but not by IC.

Contacts:
Sallie Whitlow, Glacier Research Group, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, Morse Hall, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire 03824603-862-4129 siw@unh.edu
Dr. Paul Mayewski, Glacier Research Group, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space, Morse Hall, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire 03824 603-862-3146

General comments on the core chemistry data: The data for the Core_CHEM is a melding of the 20 cm sections processed in 1991 and averaged values from the 1984-5 processing, including the 6 meter snow pit. This the data set used to generate the figures in the Antarcitc Research Series paper. The firn samples in 1984 were processed with a lexan saw, the ice samples were rinsed with super pure water and melted in precleaned containers. The samples processed in 1991 were cleaned using a routering system developed by Mark Twickler and melted in precleaned containers. The 1991 samples were analyzed the same day the samples were melted. It should be emphasized, Na values analyzed by flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry are probably total Na values whereas the Na values from ion chromatography analysis are for soluable Na (i.e. whatever dissolves when the sample is melted and dissolves in the acidic eluent used for cation IC analysis).